Art of determining the nautical bearing of navigable vessels.



' PATENTED JULY 14 1903..

, v H. w. LADD. ART OF DETERMINING THE NAUTICAL BEARING 0F NAVIGABLE VESSJELS.

APPLICATION FILED HAY 15, 1899.

N0 MODEL.

' cation.

I hereinafter set forth, the object being by ceiving instrument electrically connected ,and useful Improvements in the Art of De- UNITED STAT S l- IERMON W.

Iatented July 14, 1903 Euros,

LADD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR To eEoRo E, SMITH, TRUSTEE, OF EVERETT, MASSACHUSETTS.

ART OF DETERMINING THE NAUTICAL BEARING 0F NAVIGABLE VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,910, dated July 14, 1903.

Application filed May 15, 1899. Serial No. 716,853. (No model.) I I To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERMON W. LADD, of Boston, in the county of Suifolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new termining the Nautical Bearing of Navigable Vessels, of which the following is a specifi- My invention is primarily an improvement in theart of determining bearings of ships for navigation under conditions such as are means of improved indicating devices for use with-a ships compass and the usual sailingcharts to determine the bearings of known objects at a distance from the ship at times 7 when owing to fog or storm the landmarks may be invisible.

My invention is based upon the scientific fact recently demonstrated by Marconi and others that so-called IIertzian-wave impulses or signals may be conveyed over long distances without connecting wires. 1 utilize this principle by means of suitable apparatus to determine the position of the ship with relation toknown landmarks, and thus rendernavigation safer and avoid the delays in the movement, of vessels caused vby foggy or stormy weather when the usual sight observation cannot be taken. Such apparatus carried on the ship is applied to or connected with the binn'acle which incloses the ships compass, and it consists, primarily, of a rewith an upright conductor so shielded that it can onl receive the said wave, impulse, or 1 signal coming from a transmitting-station 'on shore or from another ship or light-ship) through a lateral opening or slot when such exposure is in proper range radially with said ship or sho're'station.

The accompanying drawings illustrate suit able means for carrying out my improved method of determining bearings. Such apparatus is not herein claimed, but constitutes the subject-matter of another application, Serial No. 56, 814, filed by me as a division hereof.

As herein shown, the signaling-wave conductor E is surrounded by a rotatable shield,

cap, or tube slottedvertically to admit the wave or impulse from a given station at such time only in its rotation as the slot is between said station and the inclosed conductor. With this apparatus or its equivalent'l may employ a rotatable pointer extending over and close to the compass always in the same radial' vertical plane as said slot or exposure to indicate on the face of the compass the bearing of the station from which emanates the signal or impulse, reaching the receiving, instrument through such slot or exposure.

With my system of taking bearings each lighthouse and prominent landmark will have a distinctive name or number by which it is known and designated on sailing-charts, and each will be provided with a transmitting instrument adapted to continually repeat its name or number, or to automatically transmit such impulse, wave, or signal as shall make the identity of the station certain. Then when a ship appears off the coast provided with my receiver and compass attachments the elevated conductor receives through the slot of its rotating and intermittently-actin g shield the impulse sent seaward from the transmitting-stations, and the navigator notes at once on his chart the bearing of said station as denoted on hiscompass-dial by the indicatingpointer. From another shore-station he; receives a diderentsignal, and by the cross-bearings thus secured be obtains his reckoning, showing exactly whereon the chart his ship should be. A transmit ting instrument'on the ship will at such times be able to communicate with the shore-station, thus making its presence and its exact location known.

-In the drawings, Figure 1 is a repress dia tion of a part of a ship having my apparatus applied to and in the pilot-house. an enlarged cross-section of the rotatable slotted shield or cap which surrounds the conductor. Fig. 3 is, an enlarged'view of the binnacle with the compass and indicator inclosed therein. I

Arepresents the binnacle which i'ncloses the ships compass, suspended in the usual way. 7/

" B is avertical rotatable shaft mounted in Fig. 2c is loo 1o; extends upwardly to a considerable height above the ships deck, so as to come within the sphere of infl'uence of a wave-transmitting instrument located in a station many "miles away. The tube D is permanently :5 erected with the wave-catching conductor E stationary within it and protruding above its top. A rotatable shield or cap F is mounted on the top of the supporting and protecting" tube D and surrounds the bare protruding upper end of the vertical conductor E. An elongated vertical slot G on one side of said cap admits the Hertzian or ether waves coming from the transmitters to contact with the bare conductor within the slotted shield or cap whenever in its rotation the slot comes between the conductor and transmitter. The

slot G is narrow, and its walls are shown extended well out from the conductor, so that said waves, coming in direct radial lines,

only reach the conductor from a point of the compass defined by the radial direction of the slot-walls, which willbe the same as that denoted on the compass-dial by the indicatingpointer O.

The protecting and supporting tube D and the rotatable slotted shield F, which surround the conductor Efwill be of durablematerial,

opaque or impervious to the Hertzian waves, preferably of a reasonable thickness of cop- 0 per. The relative length of the stationary tube D and the rotating shield F will be so proportioned as to secure the most effective action of the apparatus.

Any convenient means for: rotating the 5 slotted shield or cap F in unison with the arm Fig. l are suitable and consist of a vertical rod H, parallel to the protecting-tube D, mounted in bearings and having a geared connection at top with the'slotted shield or cap and at bottom with the binnacle-shaft B, which carries said arm; The rod H is provided with a hand wheel or ball J, by which it may be rotated by the operator, or it may be driven by any, electrical or mechanical means. The conductor E extendsfrom the slotted shield or cap F, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, into the pilot-house, and the receiving instrument K records the signal received in accordance with the Marconi system.

By providing each' ship with transmitting and receiving apparatus and with my rotatable devices connected to the binnacle it be- 6 5 comes possible for such ships to communicate with each other and also to determine from C may be adopted. The devices shown in the compass of any ship during fog or storm the direction therefrom of aship sending out signals of distress or otherwise.

I prefer to furnish with my described appa- 7o ratus a sighting-tube T, Fig. 1, mounted on the binnacle-shaft B in the planebf the pointer 0 or parallel thereto, so as to providealso for sight observations when the weather conditions are favorable therefor.

I do not limit myself to the specific devices or the proportions or form of apparatus herein illustrated and described, for it is obvious that many changes in details may be made 7 without departing from the spirit of my in- Vention and within'the improvement in the art herein disclosed. j

I do not claim the discovery of the principle of signaling by Hertzian or ether waves without connecting wires nor, broadly, the transmission of intelligence between ship and shore or between different stations in that manner, but rather the described method by which such signals or waves emitted from points on ship or shore are received at other stations by an apparatus adapted to receive the signals or waves upon a wave-catching conductor and provided with a rotatable part by which such conductor is shielded from said waves in certain directions and exposed in the direction from which the desired waves emanate, the bearing of the transmitting station being indicated by the point of, the compass from which such waves arrive when acting on said conductor.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The method of determining the direction of motion of Hertzian signal-waves which consists in shielding an elevated conductor of a wireless-telegraph receiving-station from said waves on certain sides and exposing it to waves on one side, and in rotating the shielding element until the receiving-conductor is exposed to said waves.

2. The method of receiving Hertzian signo nal-waves from any one of a number of signaling-stations, to the exclusion of similar waves from other stations, which consists in shielding the elevated conductor of a wireless-telegraph receiving-station from such 11 5 waves in certain directions, and exposingit in the direction from which the desired signal-waves emanate. 3. The described improvement in the art of determining the nautical bearing of 'naviga-- 12o ble vessels, consisting in wirelessly transmitting so-called Hertzian-wavesignals from a ship or shore station, receiving such signals on an instrument having a wave-catching conductor alternately shielded fiom such :25 waves and exposed thereto, and indicating on a mariners compass, employed with such shielding and exposing means,.the nautical bearing of the transmitting-station, for the purpose set forth. 4. v The improvement in the art of determim ing the nautical bearing of navigable vessels,

consisting in the wireless transmission of socalled Hertzian-wave signals from a designated station on ship or shore, the reception,

of such-signals byan instrument having a wave-catchin g conductor alternately shielded from and exposed to the action of such wavesignals by a rotary movement, and theindible vesse1s,consisting in wirelessly transmitting so-called Hertzian-wave signals from a ship or shore station receiving such signals on an instrument intermittently responsive and non-responsive thereto, according to the exposure of its wave-catching conductor to the influence of said waves, and indicating on a compass and chart, used with such intermittently-operating device, the ships bearing and'looation, substantially as set forth.

6. In Eertzian-wave signaling, the art'of determining the relative locations ofa fixed and a moving, or undetermined station which consists in wirelessly transmitting such sigsuch signals at the other station on an instrument having a wave catching conductor shielded from such waves in certain directions, and exposed thereto in the direction inals from one of'saidstati'ons, and receiving 7 from which the desired waves emanate, the a bearing of the transmitting-stationbeing in-.

dicated by the point of the compass from which such waves arrive when acting on said conductor.

In testimonywhereof I have afliied my signature in presence of two witnesses;-

, HERMON WLAD'D.

Witnesses:

A. H. SPENCER, JAMES A. LADD. 

